October is set to be the stage for one of Miami’s most unique music festivals in recent history. Boasting a roster that includes Barclay Crenshaw, Richie Hawtin, Kaytranada, the xx, and the first South Florida performance from the Gorillaz, everything is slated to make this year’s III Points Music Festival the event of the year. Even if they felt they could add a handful of other names, who else could they fit on this already stacked lineup?

The festival answers this question with a bunch of new acts that have just been added to perform Friday, October 13 to Sunday, October 15. This includes Arthur Baker, Julio Victoria, Pumarosa, Monolink, Jonas Rathsman, and Perfume Genius along with local acts Anshaw Black, Jaialai, Paperwater, Tremends, and Ynot. However, the biggest addition to the roster comes in the form of a unexpected, back-to-back DJ set bringing together pop-funk star Mark Ronson and Tame Impala’s frontman Kevin Parker. Although the two have worked together on Ronson’s last album Uptown Special (2015) and Lady Gaga’s Joanne (2016), this will be a special set that very few venues across the world have witnessed including Glastonbury in the United Kingdom, Corona Capital in Mexico, and Governor’s Ball in New York.

With these additions, the headliners, and more performances from the likes of Lil B, Thundercat, Rüfüs Du Sol, Bonobo, and more, III Points have positioned themselves as the “it” place to be come October.

Still Not Over It

III Points Announce Gorillaz as Headliner

Written By Miguel Tost

Photos by Zach Leete

One of the biggest genre-busting bands is going to land in South Florida for the first time…ever! The Gorillaz have reunited and will be touring in support of their latest album Humanz which features contributions from Grace Jones, Vince Staples, Danny Brown, Pusha T, Mavis Staples and many more. Of their rare stops in 2017, III Points Festival has announced that the Gorillaz will be the headlining act. This comes as a massive surprise as III Points has yet to reveal the rest of its typically massive lineups it forges for its three-day festivities. III Points is set to take place at MANA Wynwood on October 13th to the 15th.

This also comes as an incredible make-up from the festival’s single unfortunate blunder last year. Although legendary dance-punk band LCD Soundsystem were supposed to perform as the headliner for III Points in 2016, a hurricane landing in the 305 that evening called for the cancellation of the group’s appearance which happened to be their only tour stop in South Florida that year. Much like the Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem are a band that reunited with new music and a fresh tour despite years of silence after their last album and subsequent break.

The new album and tour brings frontman Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett back together since the release of the previous Gorillaz album The Fall in 2010. After the album, Albarn went on to work on his debut solo record Everyday Robots and reunited with his former band Blur for their eighth studio album The Magic Whip. Although there were rumors that the Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett were feuding after their work together on Plastic Beach and The Fall, Hewlett reconnected with Albarn and began immediate work on the band’s virtual characters for the future of Gorillaz.

I. Embracing the diverse, constantly-shifting III Point lineup exposed everyone to new music

by Zach Leete

III Points lost their main headliner when LCD Soundsystem decided that travelling into Florida during one of the worst hurricanes of the last decade wasn’t necessarily a smart idea. Although this was a massive disappointment for many III Points attendees, especially those who reportedly intended to fly into Miami for the festival specifically for LCD, it helped foster a collective feeling open-mindedness punctuated by a sentiment of “well fuck it I guess I’ll go explore” that resulted in continuous discovery of new gems. If the flashes of smiling faces bobbing up and down throughout the night proved anything, it’s that more festivals need to dig deep and research underground music. III Points may have landed in the rough from a logistical standpoint, but it was rough bursting with diamonds. For every recognizable name like Thievery Corporation or Flying Lotus, there was something new and sensational to discover like DZA, Dixon, DIIV, and Dusky (how’s that for alliteration?). Truthfully, without Hurricane Matthew’s “blessing”, some of the weekend’s most memorable moments would have never even existed. Spooky.